Night Train Practice

Spent a lot of time working on cutting and marking today. It's good stuff to practice, but it didn't feel super productive, which is too bad. How do you teach a team of people how to cut? I need to work on my fakes - both when I'm cutting and when I'm throwing.

Mini-Tourney

Headed to the Presidio in San Francisco for a half-day round-robin tournament. We won our first three games but lost the last by a pretty big point differential. We definitely should have had a closer score. Each game was only about an hour long, so things moved along at a good clip. We only had five women, so I got lots of time on the field, which was lovely!

Climbing!

Back at the wall for the first time in a long time. Lisa and I were both pretty rusty, so we didn't tackle anything too tough - just had a good time doing fun routes. Spent about an hour there altogether.

Track workout

1-mile jog, plyos, stretching

3 sets of the Z Drill

10 pushups, 1-minute plank

5 x 40m sprint
Sprint home on my bike to get the car and an ice pack... Scott pulled his hamstring - the other one, the one he wasn't nursing back to health. Arrive back at the fields in time for:

10 pushups, 1-minute plank

3 x 10 ground jumps
3 x 10 tuck jumps
1 x 10 one-legged jumps (10 per leg)


Notes: I'm totally bummed out that Scott's injured and probably won't get to play for the rest of the season. We met on the frisbee field but haven't played on the same team since that first year. I was really looking forward to playing with him again this summer, but it is not to be. I feel sad... and I'm not even the one who has to stop playing.

Night Train Practice

Warm-up

Lots of scrimmages to 3 - it was really smoky out, from all the fires in our neck of the woods, so the frequent water breaks were most welcome.

Night Train Practice

Usual warm-up

Huck drill (upwind backhands... my worst throw)

Scrimmage (I was a mess)

Core

Not a fantastic practice for me, but we went and drank beer afterwards, which was fun!

Arboretum run

Jog for 3 minutes
Sprint for 1 minute
Walk for 30 seconds

8 reps total
4.5 miles altogether
38 minutes

Today's run was a minute slower than last time... but my sprints felt a lot faster (and easier, and more fun) than last time, so I'm happy with the workout. It was sunny and warm, but 80 degrees in Davis is so much more bearable than 80 degrees in DC. I would have been sweating buckets if I were there. I did jump into a nice cool shower as soon as I got home, and it felt lovely.

Greatest Athlete

Interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about trying to identify the world's best overall male athlete.

We gave the performance stats and achievement records of 79 male athletes to a panel of 5 judges, and asked them to rank the competitors based on six criteria: speed; vision and reflex; stamina and recovery; coordination and flexibility; power, strength and size; and success and competitiveness.

It made me feel good about being an ultimate player - a sport that demands all different kinds of athleticism.

CrossFit San Francisco!

I went to a CrossFit class in San Francisco this morning - this was the view on the walk there. Beautiful scenery, lots of sun, a nice reflection of the bridge. TONS of people were out walking, running, cycling, generally enjoying themselves. Lovely day!

We did Helen:
3 rounds of:
400 m run
21 KB swings (25#)
24 jumping/kipping pull-ups

Time: 11:19

I could have (and should have) pushed myself harder... faster 400s, heavier swings... but it was a good workout overall, and it was definitely fun to do CF with a bunch of other people!

Starting Strength WO#2

A less than stellar workout... it was first thing in the morning, and I hadn't eaten breakfast...

2 x 12 x CFWU

Squat
45# x 10 (overhead)
75# x 5 (front)
115# x 4 (2 front, 2 back)
145# x 3
165# x 1, 1, 2
155# x fail

Press
35# x 10
45# x 5
60# x 4, 5, 3

Power Clean
45# x 10 (full, not power, cleans)
55# x 5 (full)
65# x 3 (full)
75# x 2 (full)
95# x 5, 5, 4+1

Notes
- Squatting to proper depth is hard! And squatting first thing in the morning is hard too.

Track workout

Well, technically a sprint workout, since the track is being resurfaced this month.

1-mile warm-up jog, followed by plyos

3 sets of the Z Drill
20 push-ups, 30 crunches

3 x 5 x 30m sprints (30s rest between reps, 3 minutes of throwing between sets)
20 push-ups, 30 crunches

3 x 10 ground jumps
3 x 10 tuck jumps
10 one-legged jumps (20 total)

The Z Drill was the hardest part... I hardly felt winded by the sprints or the jumps.

Night Train Practice

Good practice tonight - lots of scrimmaging, focusing on our endzone plays. It was hot though, and I was having a lot of trouble breathing during the first several points. I wonder if the air was worse than usual tonight? Ugh.

Night Train Practice

Not-too-intense practice. Learned how we're going to run our "standard" endzone offense and drilled it for a bit before scrimmaging.

Sprint tabata

Sprint tabata first thing in the morning. Felt alright!

Cleans & Handstands

CFWU - Stretch, Squat (2x12), Sit-up (2x12), Back ext (2x12), Pull-up (12 @ -55#, 4 with weak kipping), Dip (12 @ -55#, 4 unassisted)

WOD from Saturday 080607

Five rounds for time of:
75# Squat clean, 7 reps
15 Handstand push-ups (or other pushing exercises)

Time: 16:30 (but lots of chatting with Scott... I definitely wasn't going all out)

Round 1: HSPUs - twitches, really
Round 2: Push-ups
Round 3: 45# presses
Round 4: 40-second handstand hold (feet touching wall)
Round 5: 45# presses

Overhead Squats
45# - 5, 5
50# - 5
55# - 5
60# - 4

Finally
A few random ab exercises and some good stretching

Notes
It feels good to do different kinds of squats (front & overhead) after so much back squatting.
I wish my HSPUs were stronger...

Track workout

1-mile warm-up jog (8 minutes)
Plyos
Stretching

Z drill (lots of small, sharp cuts) - 10 catches, 3 times through
20 push-ups
30 crunches

3 x 3 x 50m sprints
- 30-second rest between each sprint
- 3-minute rest (with throwing) between each set
20 push-ups
30 crunches

3 times through:
10 ground jumps
10 tuck jumps

20 one-footed jumps (10 per leg)


Notes: The 50m sprints are tougher than the 30's a few weeks ago, but they're still easy-peasy compared to those 200's.

Night Train Practice

Usual warm-up

Scrimmage! Two games to 5, one game to 3. I played pretty well. I've been handling a lot lately, but tonight I got to do more cutting, which felt great. I felt slow though... still recovering from Monday I think.

Usual cool-down & core exercises

Night Train Practice

Practice was hot today... getting up towards 100F. Must! Acclimate!

Jog, plyos, stretch.

Dump drill (working on both offense and defense)
Conditioning/cutting drill (mercifully short)
Game to 3

Jog, core


By the way, today was the first time in a long time I felt all Jell-O-icious after a gym workout. Yay CrossFit!

Linda

Warm-up
2 rounds of abbreviated CFWU:
Stretch, squat (2x12), sit-up (2x12), pull-up (2x3), back extension (1x12)

Linda
10 --> 1 reps of:
Deadlift: 155#
Bench press: 65#
Thrusters: 60#

Time: 28:47

Notes
- Almost exactly the same weights & time as the last time I did this, on 1/16/08.
- I probably could have gone a little heavier on the deadlifts, but not on the bench press or thrusters. I haven't done thrusters in ages. They were definitely the hardest part of this whole workout; I had a hard time locking out at the top.
- As much as I love routines, I'm getting a little burnt out on the Starting Strength regimen, so I'll be turning my attention back to CF workouts from now on, trying to pick the ones that complement our frisbee workouts.

Arboretum run

My usual 4.5-mile run, with nine minute-long sprint intervals. My sprints definitely felt slower and less powerful than usual - the result of Thursday's tabata and Friday's lifting perhaps? But I completed the run in 37 minutes - a good time.

Nice to get it out of the way first thing in the morning. Sunny, nice temperature, breezy. Next stop: farmers market!

Starting Strength, WO #2

Warm-up: 2 rounds of CFWU:
Samson stretch
Squats (12, 12)
Un-anchored sit-ups (12, 12)
Back extensions (12, 12)
Pull-ups (12 @ -55#, 3 unassisted)
Dips (12 @ -55#, 3 unassisted)

Squat
45# x 10
75# x 5
115# x 3
145# x 2
165# x 3, 3, 4 - Full depth!

Press
35# x 10
45# x 3
60# x 4, 4, 23
55# x

Power Clean
45# x 10
55# x 5
65# x 3
75# x 2
95# x 5 x 3

Notes
- Many thanks to Andrew for pointing out that my squats weren't deep enough. I concentrated on doing them with good for today, and lo and behold, they were much tougher!
- Presses felt weak.
- Power cleans felt good.

Burpees, I mean, Sprint Tabata

Goal #1 - Do a track workout with my frisbee teammates.
Aborted - I got stuck in awful traffic on the way home from Sacramento and missed it.

Goal #2 - Do 100 burpees.
Aborted - I did 30 and quit. Just wasn't feeling it. PMS?

Goal #3 - Do a sprint tabata.
Success!

Night Train Practice

Tough practice tonight - not because of the amount of exercise, but because everyone was so low energy. Maybe our bodies were still recovering from the tournament, or maybe our minds were still in post-tournament depression.

Usual warm-up

Cutting drill
Hucking drill
Scrimmage

Cool-down jog and core exercises

Light run

Ran maybe 2.5 miles through the arboretum. One minute-long sprint. Beautiful evening.

Awesome, fantastic tournament

Cal States tournament in Santa Cruz.

We played 4 games on Saturday - won three of them (15-9, 15-4, 15-4) and lost 12-15 to Mischief, a nationally-ranking team that went on to win the tournament.

We played 2 games on Sunday - won the first one 15-4 and lost the other on double game point, 13-14.

This was my first tournament with Night Train, so in addition to solidifying a lot of on-field skills and strategies, I also bonded with my teammates in a way that's only possible at tournaments. Two good car rides, and one very fun night of dancing at the tournament party.

I love this sport.